Nelson Mandela hospitalised

Saturday, June 08, 2013 - 01:24

June 8 - Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is hospitalised with a recurrence of a lung infection, with presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj saying he is in a 'serious but stable' condition. Tom Dinham reports.

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South Africa's first black President and global icon of the struggle against Apartheid, Nelson Mandela, has been hospitalized Saturday with a recurring lung infection.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN, MAC MAHARAJ, SAYING:
"His condition deteriorated to the point where it was found necessary to hospitalise him. He is in a hospital in Pretoria now. The doctors report as at this morning that his condition is serious but he is stable."
Mandela has suffered respiratory problems ever since he contracted tuberculoses at the notorious Robben Island prison camp near Cape Town.
Mandela served nearly three decades behind bars for conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government.
Widely seen as a unifying figure, Mandela enjoys popularity across South Africa.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST IN SOWETO, INNOCENT MAGODZE, SAYING:
"Get well soon Papa Madiba, we want you to be well very soon, we miss you."
(SOUNDBITE)(English) TOURIST IN SOWETO, EVA VAN NIEKERK, SAYING:
"We wish that he can come out as quickly as possible, so that he can see all the people waiting in his house for him to come home."
Increasingly frail, Mandela is rarely seen in public, dividing his time between his plush Johannesburg home and Qunu, the village in the impoverished Eastern Cape where he was born.
Mandela last appearance in public was at the final of the soccer World Cup in Johannesburg in 2010.

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